Attendants of a patient admitted to Lal Ded Hospital here for past 25 days held protest over alleged delay and negligence in her treatment, after hospital authorities decided to shift the patient to tertiary care SKIMS Soura here.

40-year old Sayeeda Begum from Kreeri Baramulla was admitted to Hospital on November 20, according to her family. “They (doctors) carried out a surgery on her earlier and then dated her for another surgery, which didn’t take place,” said Nissar Ahmed Malik, a relative of the patient.

Protesting in hospital premises, the family members said for 25 days they were “kept in dark” about condition of the patient and on Thursday they were asked to shift the patient to Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

“Why were we not told to shift the patient to the Institute for all these days if the treatment was not their capacity?” the family member asked.

“She (the patient) is a young woman with three little children. She is now in a critical condition all because of complacent attitude of doctors,” Ahmed said.

The hospital authorities however denied allegations and cited “normal medical procedure” as reason for keeping patient in hospital all these days.

“The patient was received as a case of severe anemia with other complications,” said medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Shabir Siddiqi said.

“On examination the patient was found to have a malignancy and doctors were evaluating the stage of cancer in order to plan an appropriate treatment protocol,” said Dr Siddiqi.

He said today a team of doctors, along with an onco-surgeon from Government Medical College (Srinagar) planned the surgery but it was “eventually decided” that the patient would require radiotherapy and chemotherapy before the surgery.

“The patient was referred to SKIMS, based on this evaluation,” the MS said.

However the attendants demanded an inquiry into the case asking why it took hospital authorities “so long” to refer the patient.

A doctor at hospital who wished anonymity said the patient was diagnosed with advanced stage cancer. The doctor said although GMC has a cancer department, the apathy of authorities in developing the facility as a full-fledged manner was forcing them to shuttle patients between different institutes.